Life with Twins

Archive for the ‘Disney World’ Category

NOW: We are in the midst of planning our trip. This is probably the most-planned trip we’ve done….although not by much to be honest!

We are DVC members so we are staying in a suite, using our “points”. For more information on how DVC works, leave me a comment or send me an email! It’s the most awesome thing we’ve ever done…..and it’s not just for traveling to Disney places either.

Anyway. Our “home resort” is Animal Kingdom Lodge so we can book a vacation there up to 11 months in advance. So we called back in August and booked. But we didn’t really want to stay there. We love it there, don’t get me wrong, and we have stayed there before and it’s beautiful and wonderful!

But for the purposes of this trip, we really wanted to stay at the “new” Bay Lake Towers. It’s a new DVC resort that’s connected by a walking bridge to the Contemporary Resort. So, it’s EXTREMELY close to Magic Kingdom. We usually spend the majority of our trip in MK anyway and with the twins we figured that would definitely be the case this time more than ever. Plus, the Contemporary is on the Monorail so it’s convenient to get to some other resorts where we wanted to go for dinner (Polynesian and Grand Floridian) as well as easy to get to EPCOT.

We can’t book at different DVC resorts until 7 months in advance. But we didn’t want to end up with NOTHING, so we booked at AK Lodge just to be safe because we had the 11 month advantage there.

In December, I was able to call and transfer our reservation to Bay Lake~YAY! It was kind of a pain because you can only move 7 days at a time, and then our other 3 days I had to call the next day and the next day and the next day. During work. Oh well. It was nerve-wracking but I got the job done.

Then, you can make Dining Reservations 180 days in advance. You used to have to call day after day after day, but now they let you make your first 10 days of reservations all at once starting 180 days from the day you check in. So that was good news. This is an advantage of staying at a Disney Resort. Also, they have a new online reservation process that starts at 6 am.

So I had called and they calculated 180 days for me and I could go online or call January 11th. Tim and I skipped exercising and set the alarm so that we could go online starting right at 6 AM. Well. The first reservation we got just fine. The rest? Nope. Wouldn’t recognize our Resort Reservation number. I had to rush to get ready for work so that I could call the reservation phone number at 7. I wanted to be all ready in case I got stuck on the phone for a while.

Good thing. I was mostly ready by 7, and called. I was on hold for a short amount of time, but then the time it took to make all of our reservations, give her all my information, and get all of the confirmation numbers took almost a half-hour! By then, the twins were up and calling for me, my dad was showing up, my hair still wasn’t done, my coffee wasn’t poured. These kinds of little things stress me out a little. And I was already worked up because I was stressed I wouldn’t be able to get a reservation at the places we wanted. I don’t know why; we’ve NEVER had an issue.

Plus, I still had to call Victoria and Alberts. But there’s is a separate line and it didn’t open until 9 AM. And I still had to stress that I wouldn’t get THAT reservation!

You all may be thinking we are crazy. And we are. But, it’s who we are and it helps us keep our sanity. In some ways. Once, we planned a trip a mere 2 months ahead of time. Boy, that was stressful to the millionth degree!

I get all the reservations, complete with confirmation numbers and I double-check them all online. My dad helps me get the twins ready so that I can do my hair. Plus, I had to go to the bathroom……why is it that nature calls at the MOST inconvenient times?

At 9 I called V&A…..the most faniciest restaurant in WDW. At first I couldn’t get through so I left a message, but kept calling and calling anyway. See, we really wanted to sit at the Chef’s Table. And there’s only one seating for the table a night. And we really wanted it on that certain night because all the other dining reservations were already in place and I didn’t really want to have to change everything around again. But, I got through, and got what we wanted. YAY!!!

OK…….so maybe it’s less of the Type A personality…..and more just super-duper excited!!!!! Either way……it’s planned! All we do now is wait. And save money. And pack (No, not yet.)

Speaking of beer-cheese soup – check out my husband’s venture into the Blog World! The first recipe he’s going to blog about is the very one from the Canadian Pavillion in EPCOT – yummy beer-cheese soup! This is now.

THEN: I prepared myself to go home on Thursday morning. The first thing I wanted to do was take a shower. I hadn’t had one since the previous Thursday. I had asked…..but before the delivery none of the nurses were “sure” if I was allowed to take a shower or not. After the delivery it wasn’t an option at first because of the surgery. I had gotten permission to take one Thursday before I left. First I had to walk all around the floor of the hospital trying to find the darn place. I either hadn’t gotten good directions or I wasn’t really listening. I finally got to the room, set my things down and turned the water on. As difficult as it was to manuver myself; it was probably the best shower I’d ever had in my life. I felt a million times better and cleaner and happier and even a little less sore. By the time I was done and back in my room though, I was exhausted! Luckily I had about an hour before my discharge time when my parents would come get me.

They forgot to order me breakfast. I thought it would be in my room when I got back, but no such luck. I called a nurse and she wasn’t sure what happened but arranged to get some food up to me as soon as possible. I was starving! It wasn’t exactly what I would have wanted, but it was fine. The hospital food wasn’t as bad as sitcoms would have had me believe. I watched some TV and I was ready to go. I was nervous though and anxious. First thing I wanted to do when my parents showed up was go down to the NICU. I would have gone earlier but I really really needed that shower and my late breakfast.

I forced myself to be patient and finally it was 11:00. My dad came up to get me and my mom was waiting down in the NICU already. I didn’t have to take a wheelchair out because I wasn’t leaving the hospital yet.

I walked (shuffled) down to the NICU. I went to see my beautiful babies. I suddenly really wanted my parents gone, but of course I didn’t want to upset or offend them by asking them to leave. I went to Will first. He reflexively grabbed my finger with his hand as all babies will do. He sighed in his sleep and listened to me talking to him about what had happened that morning. He still had his CPAP machine on and because of the mask, he couldn’t open his eyes very well. I didn’t even know what color they were. I listened to the steady beep of the machines and listened to the nurse update me on his status.

I walked over to Ariel after tearing myself away from my son.

“Do you want to hold her?” Shock. “yes” I breathed, so quietly because I wasn’t sure I had heard the nurse correctly. But I had. She carefully set me up in a comfy rocking chair right next to Ariel’s heated bed. First, she had to clip Ariel’s feeding tube to my shirt because it was time for her to “eat”. She maneuvered the cords and wires so that they didn’t get pulled out while she was in my arms. Then, she handed me my daughter. I couldn’t breathe. I was afraid to breathe. She was finally feeling like mine. I could actually hold her. She had to be VERY VERY VERY wrapped up in blankets because she was no longer on her heated pad, which was helping her regulate her temperature. But I could see her hand. Her hand couldn’t be covered because of the IV needle in it. So I stroked her hand. And her head, which had to have a hat on it. Again, to help keep her warm.

It was surreal. The nurse had to help put her back right after she was done “eating” because the very act of digestion was making her very tired which meant her body was maintaining it’s own temperature even less. She needed to get back to her heat. And sleep.

The best thing for them was sleep. Their fragile little bodies used up too much energy doing anything else. The nurse told me not to be surprised tomorrow if I came in and was told Ariel had lost a little weight…..just from me holding her. When they slept, they grew. So sleep was the best thing for them. And frequent family visits of course. Talking to them. Letting them know they were loved.

I felt so guilty after holding Ariel. Because I couldn’t hold Will. It’s not like it was my fault or my choice. I guess I just felt bad for him. And a little for myself too. But I was also on cloud 9 after finally getting to hold Ariel. Like she was real. Like she was really mine. Like she was a real baby. It’s a little dramatic, but true. And it made me feel a hell of a lot better about going home later that morning. That was then.

Now: Although I adore my two little ones, I also want to make sure I blog about my exercise and eating.

Tim and I are both trying to make a lifestyle change. We are NOT on a diet. I don’t believe that diets work. When you’re done dieting, things go back to the way they were…..you eat those foods you gain back that weight. It makes no sense to me. You exercise until you lose the weight, then you stop exercising and you gain it back. No sense. A lifestyle change, although a bigger change, is somehow a lot more easier to manage. You’re doing it for the rest of your life, which is a little hard to swallow at first (pun intended). It takes longer to see results. But, you’re going to finally lose the weight and keep it off, which is the great reward in the end. You’re going to discover muscles you never knew you had. Just look at this bicep! 🙂

You’re going to wear clothes you never thought you’d fit into again, but you do, you really do. (Why do people, especially women, keep all these different size clothes in their closet anyway?) I got rid of all of my “fat” clothes recently. I’m still trying to lose weight……about 15 more lbs. would be good…..but by donating these clothes I’m trying to promise myself that I’m not going to gain that old weight back.

Our main eating goal: smaller portions. I really believe that in our case we can eat what we want, just smaller portions. We were terrible on portion control, but we’re getting much better. Just yesterday, Tim made pasta carbonara, which included whole wheat linguine, peas, bacon, egg white, and an egg yolk on top that gets mixed in after. I was going to take a photo but I dug in before I remembered. We also had a large side of broccoli drizzled with teriyaki sauce, and about 4 oz of red wine. I had read recently that red wine contained antioxidents which help your metabolism so we’ve been incorporating a small glass with our dinner. Later that evening, on our walk, he asked if I was full from dinner. I was…..why? Well, he had only used 4 oz of pasta….total…..for both of us. Normally he would have served us 4 oz each. What a revelation! We can eat half the amount of food and still be full! Wow.

Our main exercise goal: At least 30 minutes of cardio, and 15 minutes of combined strength and yoga. Now that the weather is getting nicer here in Buffalo, our 30 minutes of cardio is usually a nightly, brisk walk with the twins…..either pushing the stroller or pulling the wagon. We switch off pushing/pulling halfway. The person not pushing/pulling at the time? Does hand weights. We either pump our arms (like in speed-walking), do bicep curls, or tricep curls. I try to do a little of each as I go. Our strength and yoga come after the twins are bathed and in bed. We use the Wii Fit. We pick a variety of activities, going back and forth between the strength and yoga choices. We use the hand weights here too, when appropriate. We always end with jackknives (crunches) because our stomachs are where we need to lose the most fat. This is now.

Then: When we first started trying to get pregnant back in the summer of 2007 I weighed about 160lbs. I had gained about 20 of that on our Disneymoon back in 2004 and hadn’t lost it. Hadn’t really been trying to lose it I guess. (Except for a couple of months when I was dieting and eating less than 1,000 calories a day – unhealthy and unhappy). Tim was about 230. After our 9th month of not getting pregnant we decided to take the most-given advice (by people who have never been through it) – RELAX. Give me a break. Anyway, we decided we could use a vacation so we booked a Disney Cruise using our points from Disney Vacation Club (DVC). By now, I had gained another 20 lbs from stress and mild depression, and Tim had gained more than that.

Looking at these pictures afterwards made me really realize how much I weighed and how overweight I really was. I’m only 5’1″. While “relaxing” on the cruise, we ate what we wanted and didn’t do too much strenuous activity. We walked around the ship’s exercise deck a couple of mornings. But that in no way helped. I came back another 10 lbs. heavier. Tim was pushing close to 300.

I almost passed out the night I wore this peach dress because my dress was so tight and then I ate a huge dinner. I couldn’t breathe.

After we got back and I looked at these pictures…..and thought about how I felt…..and thought about how I was supposed to feel attractive and alluring in order to want to make a baby, not to mention healthy enough to carry a baby for 9 months. Close to 200 lbs. was too much. I knew I had to do something. It was February 2008. I bought the Wii Fit two months later. That was then.